


Potential Free Time

by aroseandapen, rychuu



Series: Danganronpa V3 AU: We're a Two-For-One Special [5]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: An OC who is Kokichi's twin, Canon Insert, Gen, Kurochi Ouma, playing with the idea of a potential fte if Rochi was in the game, twins au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-06-24 03:52:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15621939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroseandapen/pseuds/aroseandapen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rychuu/pseuds/rychuu
Summary: Shuichi spends some time with Kurochi Ouma and a kid's puzzle, hoping to learn a little about the enigma that is his brother, Kokichi.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's not directly part of the AU's story, but would be a potential FTE if Kurochi was canon to the game.

“Don’t tell me if you see the words first, I wanna solve it on my own, ok?”

Shuichi nodded, then realized that Kurochi couldn’t see it with his eyes glued to the book of word search puzzles he’d found in the library. “Sure, got it,” he said, though he doubted that the other would need Shuichi’s help anyway considering that it seemed to be made for children.

He almost said as much, but stayed quiet in favor in idly watching Kurochi occupy himself with the search.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” he asked after a few moments of silence save for the scratching of pencil on paper.

Kurochi seemed to perk up, setting his pencil down across his page and giving Shuichi his attention. “Well you already are asking me a question, right?”

“…right.” Shuichi held back a sigh. He hoped that the entire conversation wouldn’t go along these same lines. “Can I ask you more questions then?”

“Sure, go ahead, shoot!” Kurochi said, his face lighting up with a bright smile. Shuichi could almost mistake him for Kokichi with a beaming grin like that. “I mean figuratively shoot, not literally. That would hurt if you shot me.”

With permission granted, Shuichi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Is it true that Kokichi leads such a large organization?”

“What?” Kurochi’s mouth fell into a frown, displeased. “Is that the only reason you talked to me, to find out if my brother is lying about stuff?”

“Huh? No, of course not, I was just wondering.”

It  _was_  a contributing factor though.

The suspicious look remained, Kurochi unconvinced. “Good, because I don’t wanna spend all day talking about my brother’s secrets. I’m a person too, ya know, you can ask about all  _my_  secrets. And yes, it’s very true. It’s a  _huge_  evil organization, but it’s very secret. It’s based alllll over the world–America, England, India… it’s everywhere!”

“Have you been to all those places, too?”

Kurochi nodded. “Yep! I’ve been to tons of countries!”

Shuichi doubted it, but he didn’t say anything to that. He decided to change the subject, before Kurochi accused him of only being interested in asking about Kokichi again.

“How did you become interested in your Ultimate talent? In cryptography?”

He shrugged. “I was kinda always interested in it, I guess? Like you know in spy novels and stuff, sometimes they’ve got secret codes to communicate with? Sometimes they even had keys to them in the back, and it was fun memorizing them so I could write secret messages to myself! And sometimes my brother, too. It’s a lot of fun!”

“Hm, I can see that.” He couldn’t deny having a brief interest in the same thing, when he was young. Unfortunately, Shuichi didn’t have anyone to share the secret codes with, and so it died out quickly and he moved onto the next thing.

Kurochi nodded, shifting restlessly in his seat. The word search seemed to be largely forgotten. “Yeah, that’s all old classic stuff though. Cryptography barely even uses stuff like that anymore, with how technology has advanced and people have to make systems that are harder to break into. Now it’s a lot of math, and less about switching letters around and more about making it impossible for anyone without the key to access or be able to make sense of the information. Like if you send an email to someone, you don’t want just anyone to be able to read it, right?”

“Right.” Shuichi knew he was rather smart, but it felt like the conversation was moving in a direction that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with.

“That’s just one thing that uses cryptography, though it’s pretty important for everyone who uses the internet.” Kurochi held a finger up to his lips, his gaze wandering the library. He glanced down at his Monopad, set to the side of the table as he worked on the work search “Except I guess none of that is useful here, huh… We can’t really use the internet on our Monopads.”

“It’s still an impressive skill to have though,” Shuichi said, smiling. “And once we get out of here, it’ll be useful to lots of people.”

Kurochi smiled, but there was an uncertainty in his expression. “Thanks, Shuichi.” He picked up his pencil. “Now I’m gonna try and finish my word search, so please don’t distract me!”

That was a pointed end to a conversation if Shuichi ever heard one. He fell quiet, and watched as Kurochi bent back over his booklet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi decides to spend some more time with Kurochi, and tries to drag him out of his focus on the word search puzzle booklet from before.

Lately, Shuichi often saw Kurochi with his full attention on the word search puzzles, the tip of his pencil trailing over the jumble of letters and his lips mouthing them out. Today was no exception. He didn’t quite understand the appeal of them, but apparently they did something for Kurochi.

“Kurochi?”

It was the second or third time Shuichi had said something since coming up to Kurochi while he worked on the booklet. Each time he called his name to get his attention, however, Kurochi made no acknowledgment that he’d heard him. Shuichi might as well have not said anything, for all the good it did. Shuichi began to consider leaving him there and finding someone else to spend time with.

He sighed, waited a moment, then tried again. “ _Kurochi_.”

That did the trick. At the sound of his name, he blinked, raising his eyes from the booklet to meet Shuichi’s. After a couple beats passed, a friendly smile appeared on his lips. “Hey, Shuichi, how’s it going?”

“I was trying to get your attention, but you seemed to be really into those word search puzzles,” he remarked, trying not to sound faintly annoyed.

“Were you?” Kurochi looked apologetic at least, his expression sheepish. “Sorry, that happens sometimes. I just get  _really focused_  on things sometimes and it’s hard to notice anything else when I am.”

“I see...”

He did actually understand it, to a point. During certain cases, Shuichi could get so wrapped up in investigating that he paid little attention to anything around him that he considered irrelevant.

“I guess you really like word search puzzles then? You’ve been working on that since we found it in the library last time,” he said.

Kurochi frowned, tilting his head in thought. “Hm, no not  _really_. Usually word searches are like super boring, right? There’s way more fun puzzles to solve.”

“Huh? Then why are you working on it then?” Any comprehension Shuichi had before now flew out the window. If the other found word searches boring, then he didn’t understand how he could still be working on it now.

“Because!” Kurochi grinned, setting down his pencil to stretch his arms over his head. “I decided that I’m going to fill this entire book! Every single one, I’m going to solve them all!”

“Why?”

“I dunno. I just want to.” Kurochi shrugged, and that seemed to be as much as he’d get from him on that topic.

Shuichi sighed. That didn’t answer his question at all, and he still wondered how Kurochi could get so absorbed in something he didn’t even enjoy, but he decided to drop it for now. He decided to change the topic, and began to think of something less baffling to talk about.

Before he could settle on a new subject, however, Kurochi spoke up. His eyes shone with excitement and he leaned forward as he said, “I’m glad you came to talk to me, actually. I had something I wanted to ask you.”

“You do?” That came as a surprise to him. “What did you want to ask?”

“You did detective stuff right? Like, private investigating sort of things?” It sounded like Kurochi was leading into something, rocking in his seat as his gaze remained fixed on Shuichi’s face.

“I mean, I was more like an assistant for my uncle, but yes that’s right,” he affirmed, nodding. His experience wasn’t a secret.

“So... did you ever have to go undercover?” Kurochi stopped fidgeting now. “Like if you have to go to a party to find out secret information, or to break into someone’s room for clues, so you put on a disguise with a fake name and identity so that no one knows you’re a detective?”

“Wait, what? What do you think a detective does?” It was so far off-base that Shuichi couldn’t believe that it was a serious question. “Are you messing with me?”

It sounded like something Kokichi would ask to tease him, or something along those lines.

“Of course I’m not!” Kurochi pouted, visibly offended by the accusation. “I just wanna know. Isn’t that something that detectives have to do? Like to solve a case and get that important incriminating evidence? You’d  _have_  to go undercover sometime to do that, right?”

“No, not at all!” How many detective novels had Kurochi read? That sounded like a highly sensationalist view of Shuichi’s job. “Detectives have to follow the law just like everyone else, and private detectives can’t break into someone’s house or anything like that. Most cases that my uncle works on involves seeing the sort of places that people go to, like if they’re meeting up with another person to cheat on their partner with. They aren’t really glamorous cases.”

Once Shuichi explained the reality to him, Kurochi deflated, his shoulders slumping and his gaze falling to the table. He picked at the edge of the page he was working on in his word search booklet. “Aw, really? So no undercover disguises at all?”

“None at all.”

A brief silence passed between them. After a moment or two, however, Kurochi perked up again with a shrug and a smile. “I guess that makes sense! It’s the same for cryptography, you know? It’s not as exciting and fun as it sounds in books and movies and stuff, but I still really enjoy it. It’s the same for you and detective work, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Shuichi thought about one of his first unofficial cases, where he’d found his classmate’s lost pet. The joy and gratitude on her face still warmed his heart to think of now. No matter how depressing some cases could get, and even with the paralyzing guilt and fear he felt following the case that got him his Ultimate title, moments like that made the effort he put into it well worth it.

“Yeah, you’re right.”


End file.
